Sunday, March 6, 2011

NIT: Here We Come

It seems as though the Vermont Catamounts peaked at the wrong time this season. When they put together 10 straight conference wins in January and February, they were one of the hottest teams in the nation. Unfortunately, in the world of mid-majors, NCAA tournament bids are not decided in January of February (see: Why the Conference Tournament System Sucks). They are decided in March. Fortunately, NIT bids are decided in the first two months of the calendar year.

After getting absolutely pummeled by Stony Brook, 69-47, the Cats get their consolation prize of heading to the NIT. It's not the NCAA tournament, but it sure isn't the CBI either (with all due respect to college basketball's newest postseason tournament). Maybe they can even string together a couple of wins in the NIT to make some waves across the country.

That would be unlikely considering how poorly the Cats have played in the last few games, particularly today against Stony Brook (and even more unlikely considering nobody watches or cares about the NIT). Vermont made Stony Brook look like the best team they played all season (aside from maybe BYU). When they cut the game to 34-40 midway through the second half, it felt like it was inevitable that UVM would climb all the way back. Instead, Stony Brook continued to show a great deal of composure, particularly on the defensive end, and was able to build a comfortable lead down the stretch.

There really isn't a lot more to say about the game. The Catamounts got outplayed, plain and simple.

1 comment:

Buster, this team went into instant decine once Fjeld went down against BU. They realized, without their leader, that they'd overachieved their talent.The fall is almost over.It was a whole hell of a lot of fun while it lasted. The coaching staff deserves a ton of credit for squeezing so much productivity out of such slow, marginally shooting players.

Time to talk about next season. Big changes will be coming, almost all of them, good.

About Me

I was born and raised in Vermont and I have been a UVM basketball enthusiast since the early 2000's. I recently graduated from Bard College in upstate New York, and then moved to Austin, Texas. While I have no problems with burnt orange, I will never get over green and gold. This blog aims to celebrate The Beasts of America East: the Vermont Catamounts.